It is not the ghost of Christmas past so much as the spectre of goals not
scored that haunts Rangers this festive season.

To take the first example of the phenomenon, it is no consolation to Lee Wallace that his phantom goal - to employ the term favoured by Fifa - will soon become a relic of a bygone age.

Nine companies with contending technologies have been put through an ongoing series of intensive tests by the governing body of world football and a decision on development is expected from the International Football Association Board in March.

Fifa have tried to factor in every variable imaginable in order to get this one right - including players crowding on and behind the goal line, the difference between daylight and floodlit games, the proximity of mobile phones which might interfere with microchip signals and so on.

Certainly, as events at Celtic Park proved again that, whether or not you believe from TV evidence that Wallace’s header was a goal, the most basic rule of football has to be reinforced by the best available technology.

The object of the sport, after all, is the achievement of the first component of Law 10 - that the whole of the ball must cross the whole of the goal line, between the goalposts and under the crossbar - and if the referee is denied a view available to the watching world even a child could understand that the game and the match officials lose a crucial degree of authenticity.

At any rate, IFAB are due to make their recommendation by early spring. For Rangers fans, the chances of their team remaining in contention by then, in a league race that has now swung dramatically in Celtic’s favour, depend on how Nikica Jelavic will be replaced when he waves goodbye to Ibrox during the January transfer window.

Nobody doubts that if the right offer is received, the Croatian will make his farewell to Ibrox faster than you can say “Cash up front, please” - which, it would seem, will be the determining factor in the matter, rather than the nominal size of whatever bids might come in from south of the border.

That is a two-way process it should be added, going by what I have heard from a couple of clubs whose view is that if Rangers come calling upon them for replacements they will want to count the folding money before shaking hands and transporting it to the bank post-haste.

The contribution of Jelavic and Steven Naismith to Rangers’ fortunes in the first half of this title race can be measured precisely by the fact that their combined total of 21 goals is still higher than Celtic’s original first-choice striking partnership of Gary Hooper and Anthony Stokes, who have 19.

Even despite the remarkable 17-point swing in Celtic’s favour since the start of November, the impression is that both they and Rangers are teams with stumbles left in them, rather than that one has overtaken the other as an unstoppable force. In that respect, the question of how Rangers handle Jelavic’s assumed departure appears to be the key to the destination of the Scottish championship.

Kris Boyd, now a free agent, Garry O’Connor of Hibs and St Johnstone’s Francisco Sandaza have all been touted as replacements, but what is perhaps more to the point is that there has been little conjecture that Rangers could generate funds by selling Kyle Lafferty and retaining Jelavic, although the Northern Irishman cost Walter Smith £3.25 million in 2008 compared to the £4 million outlaid on his fellow striker two years later.

The fans’ doubts about the composition of the Ibrox dressing room beyond New Year’s Day are compounded by uncertainty about what is going on in the boardroom.

The SFA’s investigation into Craig Whyte’s fitness to be in charge has yet to be resolved and exchange of correspondence between the respective legal teams continues.

As of Thursday night, too, the defamation writ threatened by Whyte against BBC Scotland for its investigation into his business affairs had still not been received at Pacific Quay, despite the Rangers owner’s thunderous threats of “immediate legal proceedings” when the programme was broadcast in October.

New Year beckons, but it seems that few resolutions are in sight at Ibrox.

Pregnant pause for Hughes

Congratulations to Paul Hughes of the Scottish Sun and to Gemma on the birth of their daughter, Lois. Paul learned that his wife had gone into labour during last week’s referee guidance course for the media at Hampden Park, although the urgency was not such that it prevented him finishing the exercise.

However, the news prompted a discussion about experiences at the arrival of the first-born. In this correspondent’s case, it was being sent to get into scrubs before entering the delivery room that brought about a downfall.

When a rather tetchy nurse came in and demanded to know what was delaying the father-to-be, I explained that it was unexpectedly difficult to get into the sterile trousers. Standing up to show that they were tight, I fell on my face, having inserted two limbs into one trouser leg.

That debacle was run close by Paul’s Sun colleague, Derek McGregor, who had no problems with his trousers and top but who couldn’t quite fathom the polythene wraps that were meant to slip over his shoes – and marched in with them on his head.

The SFA’s head of referee development, John Fleming, entered into the spirit of things when he presented Paul with his participation certificate and with the assurance that “it’ll make sure this is a day to remember for you”.